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Evelyn Emelia Phillips
Posted
Evelyn Emelia Phillips, age 99, passed away peacefully on June 11, 2023 in Shiloh, Illinois. Evelyn is preceaded by her parents, George and Adelia Mallrich (nee Klingelhoefer), her four siblings Verena, Priscilla, Mary Ann and Norman and her beloved husband, George Dewey Phillips, Jr. in 2005 after 59 years of marriage. She is survived by one loving son, Robert George Phillips and wife Mary Helen (Rasp), 2 grandsons Matthew (Rebecca) and Justin (Ginny) and 3 great grandchildren Connor, Katherine and Claire. She was also a dear aunt and cousin to many.
Evelyn was born at home on the family farm south of Lebanon, Illinois on January 11, 1924. She graduated from Lebanon Community High School in 1941. She graduated from a business school in St. Louis, Missouri and worked in St. Louis. In 1946, she married George Dewey Phillips Jr. and moved to Grand Rapids Michigan. George had returned from WWII in 1945, serving in the Air Force and surviving several weeks of POW in Germany until the end of WWII. In 1951, they moved to O’Fallon, Illinois.
Evelyn was employed as secretary and later became treasurer of O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District 90 until she retired in 1978. She enjoyed serving many hours at the local, state and national level of the Business and Professional Women’s Club. George was employed at Scott Air Force Base and after 20 years in the Civil Service Engineering Department, he also retired in 1978. They then moved to Sun City, Arizona.
They loved to travel visiting all 50 states, numerous countries and islands and several cruises. Evelyn enjoyed many years of volunteering and making many friends in Sun City. In 2003, they moved to Wooddale Village Retirement Community.
In 2020 she moved to Shiloh Illinois to be near her son Robert. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in O’Fallon Illinois.
Cremation rites have been accorded under the direction of Lake View Funeral Home, Fairview Heights, IL. She will be buried at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City, Arizona alongside her husband, George.
